


Why Can't You Look At Me Like That?

by Stariceling



Category: Kuroko no Basuke | Kuroko's Basketball
Genre: M/M, One-Sided Attraction, Pining, Unrequited Love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-01
Updated: 2020-06-01
Packaged: 2021-03-03 02:01:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,054
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24487078
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Stariceling/pseuds/Stariceling
Summary: When Ogiwara finally gets a chance to catch up with Kuroko after the Winter Cup he tells himself he's ready to confess his long-standing crush to his friend. There's just one problem: Kuroko only has eyes for someone else.
Relationships: Kagami Taiga/Kuroko Tetsuya, One-sided Ogiwara Shigehiro/Kuroko Tetsuya
Comments: 2
Kudos: 75





	Why Can't You Look At Me Like That?

**Author's Note:**

> Part of an attempt to finish the drafts for some of my favorite prompts. Here is a late fill for prompt from [2019 Sportfest Round 4 (Quotes):](https://sportsfest.dreamwidth.org/22755.html?thread=2971619#cmt2971619)
> 
> "He takes your hand, I die a little  
> I watch your eyes and I'm in riddles  
> Why can't you look at me like that?
> 
> [...]
> 
> But I see you with him,  
> Slow dancing,  
> Tearing me apart 'cause you don't see  
> Whenever you kiss him  
> I'm breaking,  
> Oh how I wish that was me."  
> ― One Direction (I Wish)

“Your misdirection must be the reason I could lose track of you even though you were the one I went to see.” Of course Ogiwara wanted to watch the flow of the game instead of only staring at one person, but it was strange to realize later how his eyes could slide over Kuroko without catching him. Kuroko's distinct playing style had only gotten more polished, and consequently more subtle.

There was a familiar warmth in his chest just being able to talk about basketball together again. This was step two of his plan down: clearly say that Kuroko was the reason he’d gone to every Seirin game he could since finding out Kuroko was on the team.

Step one had been to casually invite him out to lunch so they could have a conversation that went farther than the texts they’d exchanged since he stood up to cheer for Kuroko at the Winter Cup. Steps three and four were vaguely outlined as ‘catch up’ and ‘flirt’ (‘wing it’ might be more accurate.) Then, step five, officially confess his feelings for his friend.

It was easier than he had expected to go back to being friends with Kuroko. He’d expected it to be painful at first but something he just couldn’t stay away from, much like finding his way back into playing basketball again.

Almost as easy was falling right back into the raging crush he had harbored unspoken for a little too long.

“I need a partner for it to work. The stronger Kagami-kun’s light is, the more I can do as his shadow.”

“So that’s why you talk about him so much. You must be really close as partners.”

Ogiwara knew the pang of jealousy he felt was completely irrational. Yes, Kuroko mentioned Kagami frequently in his texts, but that wasn’t strange. They were teammates. He had wanted for so long to face off against Kuroko. Standing beside him as a teammate wasn’t the same. It was just that he’d noticed how Kuroko looked at Kagami when they were on the sidelines, the way he turned himself towards Kagami like he really was soaking up light and heat from his teammate. Ogiwara couldn’t say what he would do to have Kuroko look at him like that.

“No, that’s because we’re dating,” Kuroko corrected. Casual failed to adequately describe his attitude, and his voice fell too deadpan to be mistaken for a joke. He clearly didn’t think of it as something Ogiwara would possibly have a negative reaction to. On any other subject that easy confidence would have been gratifying.

“I didn’t realize. Congratulations,” Ogiwara heard himself saying. Was that even what he should say in this situation? His brain was running in frantic circles around the word dating, dating, as in Kuroko was already with someone else and he’d been watching the way they looked at each other for months but he'd been too far away to see.

“I want to hear about your team too.”

“Well, the team at my school only formed this year,” he started. He was sure there were things he’d wanted to say but he couldn’t remember any of them. Words were trapped behind a confession left dead in his throat.

He somehow managed to prod Kuroko into talking about his own team to win a few minutes to pull himself together. Kuroko was never outspoken, but he could be convinced to speak when he knew he was being listened to. His feelings ran strong and deep; whether it was his sense of justice or the way he cared about the people around him. That was the thing Ogiwara loved most about him.

“I can’t say I’m surprised you met your boyfriend because of basketball,” Ogiwara teased when Kagami’s name came up again. He ignored the voice in the back of his head telling him to please shut up. He needed to quit while he could enjoy hearing about Kuroko’s friends. He wasn’t going to tell Kuroko now that he’d wanted to be the boyfriend who’d met him that way, and he needed to just stop digging this grave for his heart.

Speak of the devil. . . and Kuroko’s boyfriend had to choose that moment to show up. For someone Kuroko had described as a light bright enough to attract attention away from him, Ogiwara didn’t have much warning before he appeared.

Seeing them together from up close, Ogiwara thought he could see what Kuroko meant about light and shadow. Even off the court he was aware of how powerfully Kagami drew the eye. He blamed the force of that sheer _presence_ for the fact that he agreed to having Kagami join them for lunch. He went along with it all and said sure, he would like to get to know Kuroko’s teammates better. He wanted to know what Kagami was like.

He wanted to know what Kuroko liked about him.

Kagami picked up enough food to feed an army. Or an army plus one, since he automatically separated out a serving for Kuroko. It looked like the action was an ingrained habit. Maybe he always grabbed food for Kuroko, because he apparently hadn’t stopped to think that what his boyfriend already had in front of him was enough for a normal person. He slid into the booth and Kuroko made room for him, but not enough. There was no space left between them at all.

The way Kagami threw his arm around Kuroko’s shoulders didn’t possessively announce, ‘this is my partner,’ or even, ‘this is my _partner.’_ His body language had nothing in particular to say about Ogiwara’s presence. He was the person who was allowed to casually put his arm around Kuroko, so he did just that.

It was the way Kuroko naturally leaned into him under the weight of that arm that killed Ogiwara.

Kuroko wouldn't see the way his old friend looked at him. How could he, when he was so busy looking at Kagami like that? Ogiwara didn’t need to employ any misdirection of his own to keep his feelings a secret, and he didn't know if that was a good or a bad thing.

Looking at the two of them sitting shoulder to shoulder made him feel something even lower and more despondent than jealousy.

_Oh how I wish that was me._


End file.
